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Permalink Reply by David Ebel on April 20, 2008 at 1:14am

I've been involved in fire services for about 25 years. One of my church members was driving home from church and a drunk pulled out in front of him and thew the car into reverse and ended turning his car into an chunk of scrap. In his shock the member kept yelling out my phone number and a drunk from the bar where his buddy had just backed out went back in the bar and called me.."you better get out here ... the guy is bleeding all over and screaming this phone number."

I drove the 5 blocks from my home and was blown away by the wreckage. His wife smasher her knee and their son sitting between them (age 2 1/2) in the front seat and only the infant in the back seat in a baby seat was wearing a seatbelt. There was blood and hysteria everywhere.

Somehow I was able to calm everyone and helped until the ambulance took them to the hospital. One of the deputy chiefs came up and asked if I was available to be their chaplain. He was insistent that I was the best he had ever seen and would not give up till I agreed. I went home and had nightmares for several days from what I had just seen... (obviously..he hadn't seen many) so I promised myself that If I was going to do this I wanted classes in everything I could. I was a working fireman/chaplain for that department and then when I moved to northern Wisconsin I did the same. The department in Wisconsin hooked me up with University of Wisconsin Fire School and I took Fireman one and two. I took classes on driving the rigs and ended up on my way to becoming an engineer ... then I moved again.

Fast foward to Bakersfield, Califonia in 2006.... I had assisted wherever I could in many different venues till I moved to Bakersfield and I was a meeting that ended with an urgent plea that they were short chaplains... Not firefighter - more mental health / CISM and support.

6 years and a ton of classes later... here I am serving 2 departments, serving as the Kern County Coordinator for The Salvation Army (including disaster response), Chairman for the county VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active In Disasters) and so involved that I now am a trained trainer in several levels of CISM and am having the time of my life.

In February I realized that there were some responders that had no CISM or peer support... so I opened our new site: http://disasterresponders.ning.com. The hope was to provide needed support to those who needed it...and to bring together responders of all kinds for fellowship and encouragment.

The site is growing...we hit over 100 members today...(not bad for less than 3 months) and we have had several solid CISM based opportunities to provide assistance. The big surprise to me was that there are responders that have a peer support system in place, but, are unwilling to go for fear that they would be seen as weak, not ready to serve or even "mental" as one responder explained to me. The repercussions were too much so they were trying to manage it all in their heads... unsuccessfully.

I have had many opportunities to serve in this assignment including a great chance to provide CISM support in the Southern California fires. We were deployed with our canteen (mobile kitchen) to the San Bernardino area to provide food for evacuees, responders and anyone else who needed it. in 7 days we fed over 3000 meals and provided 92 different responses to evacuees and responders. We were 3 miles from the major shelter, in a park at the last corner before the road went right up the mountain to Arrowhead. We saw 39 firetrucks in a row one morning... mutual aids...everyone. (there is a movie of the event on our site). Police, sherriff, Park Rangers, evacuees and even TV crews all sitting and eating together. As I would listen someone would open up and eventually they would share their story.

I am more convinced than ever that CISM is an amazing tool that is so flexible that you can serve every kind of need from a kid who cannot find his dog after the fire engines pulled up to an 85 year old man that was the 3rd generation that has been born in a house and he expected to die in the house and now he was evacuated from the fire and he was so "stuck" that all he could do for the first 24 hours or so was repeat that he needed to "go home to die." By the end of the 7 days he had become responsible for the drinks and snacks and spent all day taking care of others. When they let people go back up the mountain he was so involved he was torn if he should go or stay and help us feed.

I realize that no tool is perfect. The best tool used the wrong way will do more damage than good. But, used as designed can be a life changer...

I am a better counselor, encourager, chaplain and I am thankful for the inspiration that it took Dr. Jeff Mitchell and Dr. George Everly to refine a concept into a very excellent tool that is a continuum of care.

Here is the link to the site.. please feel free to use it, refer to it and even provide encouragement on it.


Visit Emergency and Disaster Responders
Chaplain David Ebel Bakersfield, CA